


Stars Above

by mfingenius



Series: Commissions [10]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror Harry Potter, Don't copy to another site, Family Fluff, Healer Blaise Zabini, Healer Draco Malfoy, M/M, Raising Teddy Lupin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:55:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25539136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mfingenius/pseuds/mfingenius
Summary: “Oh, thank god.” Ginny hands Draco their screaming baby as soon as they’re through the door; Harry uses his crutches to walk into the living room and grins brightly at her when she scowls at him. “What on earth could you do this time that made me take care of that for six hours?”“That is my daughter,” Draco remarks lightly, rocking Carina in his arms; she immediately calms down, and both Ginny and Harry share a look. He’s been great with her since the start, understanding her in a way no one else does. If Harry’s being entirely honest, it makes him a little bit jealous.“That is a demon,” Ginny says vehemently. “She wouldn’t stop screaming!”“She knows you don’t like her,” Harry says.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Series: Commissions [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1593178
Comments: 24
Kudos: 415





	Stars Above

“I’m alright,” Harry says, the second Draco flies into the room. “I swear I’m alright.”

Draco’s on him in a second, wrapping his arms around him tightly and burying his face into his neck. Harry wraps his arms around him in return, squeezing, and notices Draco is thanking every deity he knows under his breath; he does it anytime Harry gets hurt during  Auror missions.

Draco pulls away, searching Harry’s face frantically. 

“I’m alright,” Harry repeats, even if he knows his husband won’t believe him.

“His chart,” Draco snaps, holding a hand out, and the healer-in-training in the room flinches back, looking more than a little terrified; Hary almost feels bad for the healers-in-training they appoint him. They're all terrified of Draco.

“Healer Potter-” the man squeaks; he cannot be much older than nineteen, and he looks desperately at Harry as though he can do anything. Harry wants to scoff. If he thinks he’s going to say a word against his husband when he will already be on his bad side for getting hurt, he’s wrong. “Healer  Zabini told me not to-”

“Does it seem like I care what Blaise says?” Draco asks, sneering, and the healer-in-training sinks back further. “Are you more afraid of him, or of me?”

The answer is evident, because the guy begins to hand the chart over.

“Thank you for following my explicit instructions not to let Healer Potter terrify you into submission, Timothy,” Zabini drawls, stepping into the room, and Timothy draws back the chart, looking immensely relieved. “Draco, you’re not Potter’s healer, you know you can’t see his chart.”

“You’re unbelievable,” Draco tells him.

“And  _ you’re _ never objective when it comes to your husband,” Zabini says, bored. “Now sit down.”

Draco scowls, but he does sit down next to Harry, in a big lime green armchair that’s as hideous and uncomfortable as the rest of St. Mungo’s.

“Potter was hit by a curse,”  Zabini says, and Harry grimaces when Draco’s grip on his hand tightens; he won’t say a single thing until he knows Harry’s alright, but after that, he’ll be furious. “I’ve fixed the damage, and he’ll be alright, but he cannot go back to the  Aurors for three months, and no fieldwork for another three months after that.”

Harry grimaces; he’s never kept away from his job that long, and he’s gotten hurt badly before. Right now, Draco must be imagining how bad it must’ve been to be getting these instructions from  Zabini .

Because he’s a healer, he can likely give himself a good idea of what Harry’s initial condition was, and he squeezes Harry’s hand tighter anxiously, until the bones ache. Harry knows better than to complain, and only grimaces quietly.

“Healing spells fixed all of his internal damage, and I've fixed most of his injuries,” Zabini continues.

“Most?” Draco asks; he sounds frail, and Harry immediately squeezes his hand.

Zabini turns to Harry with a cocked eyebrow, and Harry grimaces but lifts his gown; the long gash across his torso is closed now, wrapped with gauze and bandages, but it’s not healing nearly as fast as it should be with magic.

“The curse won’t let the healing spells work properly there,”  Zabini says; Harry thanks all gods that Draco can’t see the gash yet, because he thinks it’ll freak him out more. At home, Draco will be the one to clean and change his bandages, which means he’ll see it anyway, but Harry is – stupidly – hoping it might be better by then. “I’ve done muggle stitches, and I've used gauze and bandages to stop the bleeding, but we’ll have to wait for the wound to heal itself.” 

“But I’ll be alright,” Harry says.

Both Zabini and Draco ignore him.

“His left leg was broken,”  Zabini continues explaining, and Harry grimaces; he’d been hoping he wouldn’t tell Draco about that. “And I’ve healed them, but because of the curse the bone is weaker than it usually is, and he’ll need to be on crutches for the next few months.” He softens at the look on Draco’s face, and continues. “He’s going to be alright, Draco.”

Harry knows  Zabini doesn’t like him; he hates how often he ends up here and that that upsets Draco, and he hates that he’s his healer. He’s the only Healer with as much experience as Draco, and Draco can’t heal him because they’re married, which means  Zabini has two options: treat him, and know he’s in the best care possible, or turn him off to someone less experienced and know he might’ve treated him better.  Zabini refuses to let anyone who’s not the best get his hands on his best friend’s husband, but he doesn’t like doing it himself, either, because if something happens – if Harry  _ dies _ \- then it’ll be on him. 

Which means he hates Harry.

Harry doesn’t like him, either, so their relationship is simple enough. They only see each other when Harry almost dies,  Zabini snaps at him for it, Harry tells him not to tell him what’s best for his husband because  _ he _ knows, and  Zabini reminds Harry – quite icily – that he was there as Draco’s friend before Harry was his husband and will be there long after. 

And Harry hates the implication that they would separate. He loves Draco more than anything in the world, and Draco loves him, too.

“Alright,” Draco says, nodding. He trusts Zabini, and he looks a little bit calmer at the reassurance that he’ll be alright, even if Harry’s own reassurance did not make him feel better at all. “Thank you, Blaise.”

Zabini nods and smiles lightly. “I have to see my other patients. Usually I'd like to keep Potter here longer, but if you want to take him home, I can give you a list of what he needs and you can do it yourself. It’s basic, and any of the interns could do it, but I assume you don’t want that.”

“I don’t,” Draco agrees. “If I can do it at home, it’ll be more comfortable for the both of us. I’ve left Carina and Teddy with the Weaslette, and I don’t know how much longer she’ll hold out.” 

Zabini nods and leaves, and Harry smirks lightly. “Ginny?”

“We were having lunch when Blaise called,” Draco says; out of everyone who Harry thought Draco would get along with when he met the Weasleys, Ginny wasn’t the person he expected, but that was what happened. They’d not only gotten along, but they'd become  _ friends,  _ and then  _ great friends _ , and then  _ best friends _ , and now, they get together every other day, even when Ginny’s in the middle of Quidditch season. “She took them home, but you know she hates babies.”

She does; the day Carina was born, a little over eleven months ago, Ginny saw her for the first time, wrinkled her nose, and said, ‘ _ congratulations’  _ in a way that had made everyone laugh and Mrs. Weasley smack her. It’s hilarious how awkward she is around her, especially because she’s not that way around Teddy.

After Harry and Draco officially adopted Teddy, and the Weasleys had all gotten to know him, Ginny had practically fallen in love with Teddy; she’s taught him to fly, she takes him to the muggle aquarium, and she loves to pull pranks with him; with Carina, though, it’s as if Ginny’s afraid she’ll break her or something.

Harry’s hoping it’ll go away as Carina grows older.

“I do,” Harry says, smiling. Then he hesitates lightly. “Draco, love. Are you alright? You haven’t gotten angry yet.”

Draco gives him a  _ look _ . “You’re injured.”

Harry really doesn’t feel that bad, but he’ll take any excuse to avoid Draco’s anger. He lifts his hand to his lips and kisses his knuckles. “Alright.”

“I’m going to be  _ so _ angry at you when you’re not,” Draco warns him half-heartedly.

Harry laughs and kisses his palm. “Alright.”

*

“Oh, thank  _ god.”  _ Ginny hands Draco their screaming baby as soon as they’re through the door; Harry, who’s not supposed to be putting much weight on his leg –  Zabini is afraid the bone might break again, even if he did say it was unlikely – uses his crutches to walk into the living room and grins brightly at her when she scowls at him. “What on earth could you do this time that made me take care of  _ that _ for six hours?”

“ _ That _ is my daughter,” Draco remarks lightly, rocking Carina in his arms; she immediately calms down, and both Ginny and Harry share a look. Harry, who has likely spent just as much time with Carina as Draco has, doesn’t understand how he does it. He’s been great with her since the start, understanding her in a way no one else does. If Harry’s being entirely honest, it makes him a little bit jealous.

He talks to her in the mornings and when he comes home from work; he asks for her opinion on things and carries full conversations with her even if all she does is non-sensical babbling and fussing. ‘I  _ understand her, Potter’, _ he always says, when Harry snorts, and though Harry thinks it must be impossible, he really has no other explanation about how well they get along.

“ _ That  _ is a demon,” Ginny says vehemently. “She wouldn’t stop screaming!”

“She knows you don’t like her,” Harry says. He crutches closer to Draco, grabbing one of Carina’s small feet; she looks at him and squeals happily, reaching out for him to hold her.

Harry grins and sits down on their sofa, leaving his crutches on the side of it, and Draco smiles and hands her over once he’s settled. Harry begins bouncing her softly and cooing at her.

“Teddy, your dads are here!” Ginny calls up the stairs; they hear a muffled sound, and then Teddy’s excited steps down the stairs; a moment later, Teddy is launching himself through the air to cling to Draco, who catches him with a huff and a laugh.

“Hello, sweetheart,” he says, putting him down; he’s six now, and growing quickly, and he gives a gap-toothed grin. “How was your time with Aunt Ginny?”

“It was fun,” Teddy says; his hair is turning from turquoise to gold to pink quickly; he still doesn’t quite know how to control it, and it’s always amazing to see the way his features change, because it’s not just his hair. 

Often, his eyes change color as well, or his skin; his nose has changed shape before, and so has his chin. Sometimes, he turns into a little Harry or Draco, often when he misses them. It always makes Harry’s heart clench.

“Right up until Nina started screaming.” Teddy’s wrinkling his nose, and Harry huffs out a peal of laughter. He used to have a hard time pronouncing r’s, and Carina had been too hard for him to say; he’d started calling her Nina, and it stuck, even if he speaks better now.

“Dad!” Teddy turns excitedly towards him, running at full speed. “You’re back!”

“He’s hurt, Teddy,” Draco warns anxiously. “Nothing too rough.”

Teddy hugs Harry carefully, and Harry smiles fondly. Even if he does think Draco worries too much, he appreciates him stopping Teddy from ramming into his stomach at full speed; it probably would’ve opened his stitches.

After making sure that hugging their children hasn’t somehow harmed Harry, Draco walks over to Ginny, who’s already putting on her coat next to the door. “Would you like to stay for coffee? I promise I'll keep her away from you.”

Ginny shakes her head. “No, I’m alright. I think I'll go snog Luna for a while and thank all gods she doesn’t want children.”

Draco laughs as Ginny practically runs out, and then turns back to Harry and Teddy; Harry’s making funny faces at their children while they giggle, and Draco can’t help but simply  _ stare _ , for a moment. He never knew how much he could love this, all of this, until they’d first brought Teddy home and Draco had seen Harry hold their son in their living room for the first time and realized that they were the two most important people in his life.

A similar experience had followed Carina’s birth, when they’d brought her home and had sat Teddy on the couch, letting him hold her for the first time while Draco and Harry stood close, anxiously. Teddy had been very excited about being a big brother, and though Draco had thought it would fade, it didn’t. 

He’s not very fond of the screaming at night – who is – but he enjoys playing with Carina, even though she can’t walk yet, and likes to get into screaming battles with her, of who can scream the  loudest. The first time it had happened, Draco thought he’d be driven insane.

Carina kicks her little legs out, catching Harry in the stomach, which makes him wince; Draco’s moment is immediately broken, and he’s back into full healer-husband mode – Harry calls it that, Draco calls it ‘ _ appropriate worrying because you’re a reckless idiot, Harry Potter’  _ \- walking over quickly, ready to take Carina if Harry needs it.

“Do you feel alright?” he asks, shifting his weight and wringing his hands. “Does anything hurt? The potions should be acting alright, but I need you to tell me if you feel  _ anything  _ wrong-”

“Draco, I’m fine,” Harry says, smiling softly up at him; his husband worries about him so much, especially when he’s on an Auror mission or something goes wrong. 

“But you’ll tell me if something’s wrong?” Draco pushes, chewing on his lower lip. He can’t help it; he’s the best damn healer in St. Mungo’s, and he knows how easily something can go wrong. A second is enough, and with unknown curses – well. It’s easy for something to slip past them.

He and Blaise miss it less often than others, which is why they’re both at the top of their field; Draco works in the Dark Curses and Magical Damage Division, and Blaise works in the Magical Poisons and Blood Curses Division; Draco grew up around dark magic, which gave him more knowledge than they ever teach in school, and Blaise’s mother had a garden entirely dedicated to undetectable poisons; it makes them both exceptional professionals in their area of expertise.

And, admittedly, sometimes outsiders. 

But they have each other.

“Yes,” Harry agrees, as Teddy looks worriedly between them. “I swear I’ll tell you.”

Draco is only marginally calmed down by that.

*

Zabini said to change the bandages every twelve hours, and Draco does it like clockwork; Harry enjoys his husband’s undivided attention – as undivided as it can get with an  eleven month old baby and a  six year old son – and spending time with their children. His job keeps him busier than he’d like, and, when he’s not busy, Draco is, so they hadn’t spent much time together in a few months. Harry feels it keenly whenever Teddy and Draco talk about something he’s missed.

This, however, feels... well, good. He hasn’t been this pampered in ages.

“I told you not to strain yourself,” Draco snaps, rushing over and reaching for Harry’s mug, even if he has to climb onto the counter to do it and Harry can reach it from the floor.

“This hardly counts as a strain,” Harry argues, even if the stitches in his side did sting a bit when he stretched. The pain salves he’s applying and the potions  Zabini has him on take most of the pain away, but he’s already had to stop taking two, so now he’s down to one pain numbing salve, three potions to prevent infections and the spreading of the curse, and a bone-strengthening potion that tastes awful; though the salve only gets rid of the pain for roughly six hours, he can only apply it every eight. Draco’s very strict about that, too.

“I count it, so it is.” Draco’s frown is deep as he gives Harry the mug and puts the kettle on. “You’re not allowed to drink coffee with the potions. Tea?”

“Fine,” Harry says, pouting. He likes coffee much better than tea, but he knows Draco will never let him get away with it. “Where’s Carina?”

“In her playpen.”

“Alone?” Harry asks.

“I have a charm on her,” Draco says. “I only left her alone to make sure you weren’t drinking coffee.” 

Harry smiles sheepishly – that had been, in fact, his plan – and Draco rolls his eyes and raises an eyebrow, as if daring him to deny it.

“And Teddy?” he asks, instead of giving Draco the satisfaction.

“In his room, coloring,” Draco says. “I promised we’d watch Tangled with him later.”

Tangled is Teddy’s favorite movie, and they watch it –  _ easily - _ seven times a week; to be fair, Draco watches it more than Harry does, because he doesn’t leave on missions like Harry does; sometimes, when Harry gets back from a hard mission or they’ve had a fight and they’re lying in bed together, quiet, stressed, and feeling like there’s kilometers between them, Draco recites the movie until Harry begins  laughing so hard he  cries . 

Or kisses him to shut him up. Either option is good.

“I should be putting Carina down for a nap in a few minutes.” He gives Harry an imperious look. “If I leave you alone, will you do anything you shouldn’t?”

“Of course not,” Harry says, mock-appalled. “I’m not a  _ child _ .”

“No, you’re just a reckless idiot,” Draco says. Harry makes an insulted noise, and Draco stands on his tiptoes and presses a kiss to the edge of his lips. “I’ll put Carina down for a nap and go get Teddy. When I come back, you better be only drinking tea.”

Harry grumbles an agreement.

*

Draco doesn’t return in half an hour; Harry sits on the kitchen drinking his tasteless tea – Draco can call him a Neanderthal all he likes, but the fact is tea doesn’t taste like  _ anything _ and Draco’s just too posh to admit coffee’s better – but begins to get  antsy when Draco doesn’t immediately come down.

_ What if something’s happened _ ? His traitorous brain whispers.  _ What if there’s a dark wizard in the house? What if someone’s heard you’re healing and has decided to take this chance to attack? What if Draco’s dead? _

His heart begins pounding immediately,  Auror instincts back in full alert, but he takes a deep breath and forces himself to calm down; there is no reason for anything to be wrong. Draco is an excellent duelist, he doesn’t hear Carina crying, Teddy hasn’t made a sound, he never heard any sort of suspicious noise, and there are no dark wizards that he caught that have recently gotten out of Azkaban, or made any threats, and they usually like to do that. Draco might very well be simply in Carina’s nursery, watching her sleep; he does that lately.

He walks up the stairs slowly, and finds Carina’s nursery door slightly ajar; he limps towards it – his crutches make too much noise, and he didn’t want to alert anyone in case there  _ was _ someone in the house – and pushes it wider, just until he can see inside. The sight makes his heart jump: his husband, sitting cross legged on their rocking chair, with Carina in his arms; lit up animal figures chase each other above her head in circles, and she looks entranced, her huge eyes following the golden light.

As he leans closer, Harry realizes Draco’s singing.

_ "Constant as the stars above _

_ Always know that you are loved _

_ And my love shining in you _

_ Will help you make your dreams come true _

_ Will help your dreams come true." _

Harry has never heard Draco singing a lullaby before; that’s usually more his kind of thing. He never knew any lullabies because the Dursleys didn’t sing to him, and he refuses to sing the ones they sang to Dudley because the reminder is unwelcome, but he’s learned new ones, specifically for his children.

Draco, however, doesn’t sing, or at least Harry thought he didn’t; he likes showering Carina with kisses and compliments, holding full conversations with her about the  _ strangest _ things; his patients, the latest book he’s read,  telly shows and issues with the Ministry as though she will understand him and be able to provide an opinion. Harry is usually the one to read and sing to her, or play ‘silly baby games’, as Draco calls them, and Draco always rolls his eyes and calls them ridiculous and Harry could almost be offended, except Draco gets that adoring look on his face and goes soft all over whenever Harry does any of it and Harry loves it, loves him.

He was the same way with Teddy; carrying out full conversations about things even  _ Harry _ didn’t understand. Patients, and curses, and epiphanies he’d had at work that lead to life-saving treatments. Even full of love, it’s always clinical, and distinctly  _ adult. _

The lullaby is low, and sweet, and Harry can’t bring himself to interrupt. When Draco’s done singing, he begins rocking Carina, the lit figures above her head continuing their little dance. She giggles, even as her eyes become droopy.

“Did you like that, sweetheart?” Draco coos sweetly; he likes to pretend he’s not as soft and kind as Harry is, but Harry knows for a fact he secretly is. Even sweeter, Harry would say, but Draco wouldn’t like that, and Harry doesn’t fancy getting hexed, so he’s never said it out loud. “I know, I know, your daddy’s better at this than I am. Well, you’re lucky, because he’ll be staying here with us for the next few months. You can’t tell him, but I’m ecstatic about it. I’ve missed him a lot, and I didn’t want to tell him because he gets all sappy and silly, and tells me he loves me. I love that side of him, but if I tell him I'll never hear the end of it, and I have a reputation, so I can’t very well melt every time he looks at me-”

“You already do.” Harry cracks the door open, grinning, and Draco looks up at him; immediately, his cheeks flush a brilliant shade of red.

“What are you doing?” he asks defensively, cradling Carina closer. She’s fallen asleep, breathing soundly against Draco’s chest. “How much did you hear?”

“All of it,” Harry responds, grinning. “The lullaby, too.”

Draco’s cheeks go, if possible, even redder. 

“It’s a family lullaby,” he defends weakly. “Because of the stars – I could never sing it to Teddy because it wouldn’t make sense-” Harry chuckles, and Draco shakes his head at himself, standing up and turning to Carina’s crib, trying to hide his blushing. “What are you even doing here? No strain, Harry. And where are your crutches?”

“Left them downstairs,” Harry admits, looking at his husband while he puts their daughter down for either a nap or the night; her sleeping schedule has been a little unpredictable lately, and Draco swears she sleeps better when Harry’s here, but Harry thinks that might just be him projecting. He knows Draco does sleep better when he’s here,  resting instead of spending the night worrying about whether Harry will make it home and when. “I didn’t want to make any noise in case anything was wrong.”

“Why would anything be wrong?” Draco asks, frowning, while they walk out of Carina’s room  together.

The truth is, nothing  _ should _ be wrong, but there are certain things that come with being an  Auror that Harry has gotten used to; paranoia, anxiety, worrying the second Draco doesn’t answer the  floo , or if he hasn’t seen him in a while, or if he’s simply there  _ sleeping _ and Harry realizes how much he loves him and how easily everything could be taken away. 

He sees it every day, people never see it coming.

“No reason,” he says, as Draco helps him limp back towards the hall. They make their way to Teddy’s room.

“Tangled?” Teddy asks excitedly, the moment he sees them. Harry grins at him and nods, and he immediately runs past them, downstairs. “I’ll make popcorn!”

Harry and Draco laugh; with a hand around Draco’s shoulders and Draco’s hand around his waist, they make their way downstairs slowly;  Zabini had been right about the bone, and it does feel different than walking usually does, unsteady and exhausting, so he allows Draco to take a good part of his weight.

Once they reach the living room, Harry drops himself on the couch, wincing when it pulls at the stitches in his stomach but relieved to be off his leg. “Come sit next to me. I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages.”

“You haven’t  _ stopped _ seeing me in the entire weekend,” Draco says, amused.

Still, he sits next to Harry, and lets him wrap his arms around him. Harry sometimes cannot believe they’re together; he kisses Draco’s hair, looks at his eyes, convinces himself this is real. 

The fact that his life only gets better every day is something he never could’ve believed as a child.

“It’s never enough,” Harry says with a shrug, pressing a kiss to his husband’s lips.

Draco’s cheeks flush. “Sap.” Silence, and then. “I love you.”

Harry grins. “I love you, too.”

Harry kisses his husband again, and it’s perfect.

A moment later, of course, Teddy makes his way into the room, sees them, gags, and throws a handful of popcorn at them. Harry laughs while he pulls away.

*

Monday comes, and Harry expects Draco to leave. It’s odd enough that he didn’t have to go to St. Mungo’s in the weekend – because he’s the head of the Dark Curses and Magical Damage Division, he’s often needed, mostly by the  Unspeakables ,  Aurors , or Curse Breakers. He actually has a contract with the Department of Mysteries as a part time consultant, because they need him so often – and Harry assumes that by the time he wakes up, Draco will be gone.

Instead, he wakes up and finds Draco staring at him widely. 

He looks oddly soft in the mornings, hair mussed and expression open in a way it usually isn’t. Harry’s heart skips a beat when he sees him; it’s been almost five years since they’ve married, and Harry still doesn’t understand how he can love him so much.

Molly had told him it would pass; that he’d slowly get used to it, and eventually it would just be normal, but it’s not, it never has been; Harry feels more in love than he did that day, the day before, and he could never get used to it. He doesn’t  _ want  _ to get used to it. He can’t imagine looking at his husband and not feeling the butterflies in his stomach, the fluttering of his hands.

“What are you doing here?” he asks, voice rough from sleep. “Did you sleep through your alarm?”

It has never happened  before, Draco doesn’t do that. Still, Harry thinks he might be exhausted; between taking care of Harry, and Carina, and Teddy – who's been having nightmares lately, and even though they usually take turns comforting him, lately only Draco has been doing it because Harry is away often, and when he’s not, he’s so out of loop with his family that he can’t calm Teddy down – he's barely slept, and though Harry knows he runs on coffee and anxious energy, it’s a lot, even for him.

“No,” Draco says; he’s flushing lightly, staring at Harry, and, a moment later, he rolls away and stands up, stretching. “Do you need help getting downstairs? I’ll grab Carina and make breakfast, and-”

“Draco,” Harry interrupts, looking at the clock. “It’s almost nine. You should be at work.”

“It’s alright,” Draco says, brushing him off. “I’ll meet you downstairs?”

“Draco-” But Draco’s already walking away, and Harry frowns.

He stands up and grabs his crutches, making his way downstairs slowly. By the time he makes his way to the kitchen, Draco’s done with breakfast – pancakes – and Carina’s squealing happily, sitting on his hip.

“Draco,” he says, again. “What’s going on? Why aren’t you going to work?”

“I took a few days off,” Draco says reluctantly.

“What?” Harry asks. “Why?”

Draco gives him a look. “You’re injured, and Carina’s here, and you can’t be running after her if-”

“She doesn’t even walk yet, Draco, I’d hardly have to  _ run after her _ ,” Harry says. He knows his husband worries – if Harry worries about intruders or Dark Wizards in the house, Draco worries about anything being even minimally wrong with their health – but he’d thought he’d convinced Draco that he’s fine. “And Teddy’s here. If there was anything I couldn’t do, he’d be very happy to help me with it.”

“You’re not supposed to do any fieldwork for the next six months,” Draco says. “And Teddy is six years old. He doesn’t know how to do  _ anything _ .”

“I don’t think  Auror fieldwork is  _ quite _ the same as taking care of our children,” Harry says drily, making Draco cock an eyebrow at him. “And you should give Teddy more credit, he’s clever.”

Draco glares at him.

“What’s this really about?” Harry asks.

Draco sighs and walks over to the table, placing Carina in her high chair; Teddy isn’t due to wake up anytime soon, but Draco sets a place for him anyway. He'd had nightmares again last night, so he’ll most likely stay in bed until ten or eleven, trying to get some rest. Harry takes a seat, too, and summons his potions from the cabinet wandlessly. He thanks Draco when he sets a plate of pancakes in front of him, and then watches as he sits across from him with his own plate.

“Well,” Draco says, awkwardly. “I - I want us to adopt another baby.”

Harry’s fork stops halfway to his mouth; does he want another baby? Of course! He could have his own little Quidditch team of children for all he cares. Draco had been the one to avoid the subject several times since they adopted Carina, because – in his words - they both work too much and they already have two children and why would anyone have kids only to not see them sixteen hours a day?

“You do?”

Draco nods. “And I’ve been trying to talk to you about it, but I was scared you wouldn’t want to, and-”

“ Of course I want to!” Harry says immediately. “You know I want a lot of kids, love, I just haven’t wanted to pressure you because you’ve been reluctant-”

“I know,” Draco interrupts. "And I can’t say I’m not anymore, because what if – well, what if it’s a mistake? We’re doing perfectly right now with Teddy and Carina, but what if we adopt another baby and ruin it all-”

“How could a new baby ruin anything?” Harry asks.

“Well, Teddy’s having nightmares more often than he used to,” Draco says. “Carina’s teething, you’re gone on missions more often than you’re not-” he seems to see the way Harry’s face morphs into guilt, because he rushes to continue. “Not that I'm in any way angry – I just mean – it might not be the best time for all of us, but it’s not that long until Teddy leaves for Hogwarts, and I think the house might be lonely-”

“Draco,” Harry interrupts. He thinks five more years until Teddy leaves for Hogwarts is still a long time, but he more than anyone knows how quickly time passes. “I know I'm gone a lot. And I know - I know it might not be the best time, but – well, there’s never a perfect time, you know?”

When they’d adopted Teddy, Draco had been still apprenticing as a Healer, and Harry had just been a junior Auror. Neither of them had had their lives together, and it had been hard, at the start, but after Tonks and Remus had died and Andromeda had told them she couldn’t handle a child any longer, there hadn’t been any other option. Then, with Carina, they’d both been in much better places – both with steady jobs, and incomes, and much more experience with babies now – but Draco had been up for a promotion, which had meant he’d been very stressed, and Harry was on desk duty because he’d failed to turn in his last three cases worth of paperwork, which had made him, well...  _ irritable. _

And right  now ... well, if Harry’s quite honest, he’s been considering quitting his job for a couple of months now. He’s one of the best  Aurors in his field, and he enjoys it, he does, but coming back after long missions and realizing how out of pace he’s gotten with his family is never worth leaving them in the first place. Draco knows Teddy’s and Carina’s favorite foods, Draco knows what Teddy’s nightmares are about, Draco knows whether or not Carina has cried in the last three days because he’s there with her.

Harry’s not. And he misses his children, he misses his husband all the time; between them, he and Draco are rich enough that neither would have to work a day in their lives and they would still have more left for their children, and Harry would enjoy staying home with their kids for a while.

It would certainly help Draco.

“I know.” Draco’s chewing on his lower lip. “I know. But – well, maybe we should wait until Carina is older and-”

They’re interrupted when Teddy comes into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes and looking around excitedly. 

“Are there pancakes?” he asks. “I smelled syrup from upstairs.”

Harry laughs, and then laughs harder when Teddy spots the pancakes on the table; his face immediately brightens, and he climbs onto his chair and begins pulling pancakes onto his plate before drowning them in syrup.

“Teddy,” he says. Draco looks at him warningly, but Harry ignores him. “Your dad and I are thinking of adopting another baby. Would you like that? Another little boy or girl crawling around here?”

Teddy shrugs. “Sure. Can it be a boy this time? Carina screams too much.”

As if on cue, Carina squeals again and throws a piece of pancake at Teddy; it hits him right in the nose, and he shrugs as he puts it in his mouth. 

“I think that’s just a baby thing, Teddy,” Harry says, amused. “But sure, we can adopt a boy.”

“ _ If _ we adopt,” Draco says, pointedly. “There are a lot of things to talk about, first.”

“Talking is boring,” Teddy groans. “You can tell me when you’ve made a decision. Can I eat in front of the TV? I promise I won’t make a mess.”

“Fine,” Harry says. “But be careful.”

Teddy’s out of the room before Harry has even finished the sentence.

“Harry-” Draco begins, but is interrupted when Carina screams loudly, bursting into tears when she realizes her plate is empty.

“I’ll take her,” Harry says, standing and picking her up. There’s a clatter from the living room, and then a distinct ‘ _ oh no’  _ from Teddy. “You go make sure Teddy’s alright.”

Draco nods.

*

Harry waits a few days before bringing it up again.

The best time to talk to Draco is when he’s changing Harry’s bandages and applying the salve, because he’s focused in a way that makes him unable to lie well. Harry’s not afraid of using that small piece of knowledge to his advantage.

“I was thinking,” he says; he’s sitting on the bed while Draco’s kneeling in front of him so he’s at eye-level with Harry’s wound. “About what you said the other day.”

“Yeah?” Draco mutters distractedly, probing at the wound gently to make sure everything is healing well. Honestly, Harry’s  _ fine _ . He hardly feels it at all anymore, and the only reason he can’t go back to work now is because they don’t know how the curse might interact with other wounds if Harry gets hurt.

“About adopting another baby.”

“Oh,” Draco’s gentle probing stops, for a moment, and then he leans back on his heels. “I told you, we don’t need to do it right now. I know you love your job, and you’re busy, and-”

“Draco,” Harry interrupts. “I want to do it.”

“I know you do,” Draco insists, standing up and taking off the healer gloves. They’re magical surgical gloves that sterilize themselves before every new contact; they’re insanely expensive. Harry bought them for Draco when he graduated as a Healer, years ago, and he still treats them like they’re his most prized possession. “But we’re both busy people, I shouldn’t even have brought it up-”

“And I want to quit the Aurors,” Harry continues. Draco pauses in the middle of collecting the gauze, and stares at Harry with wide eyes.

“ _ What _ ?” he asks.

“I don’t like how often I’m away from you, and Teddy, and Carina,” Harry says. “You’ve been basically handling the kids on your own, and-”

“You know I don’t mind, I don’t want you to have to quit-”

“I know, and I don’t  _ have _ to quit,” Harry says. “I want to. I want to help out more, I want a change in my job, and I don’t want  Zabini glaring at me every other weekend because I almost died and he hates me for it.”

Draco chuckles lightly. “He does.”

“I know.” Harry smiles. “And I know you worry.”

“I would never ask you to quit your job.”

“You’re not,” Harry assures him. “I’m doing this because I want to, Draco, and because I think this is the best thing for us right now. McGonagall’s been offering me the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for ages. I might do that. I could  floo home and back every day, every free hour.” He thinks about it. “I could even not do anything for a bit; it’s about time I take a break.”

From being chased by a psychopathic maniac who wanted to kill him to actively  _ seeking out  _ psychopathic maniacs who want to kill him to throw them in Azkaban, Harry’s barely had time to breathe, relax. He'll enjoy having some time to himself, spending time with his family; he thinks it might be exactly what he needs.

“Are you sure?” Draco asks hesitantly. “Because we can wait.”

Harry rolls his eyes and smiles, pulling his husband closer and kissing him silly, ignoring the pull of the stitches on his sides. “I’m sure, Draco. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Draco’s flushing brightly, a hand rubbing up and down Harry’s side gently. “So much.”

“So much,” Harry echoes, kissing him again.

*

They officially tell Teddy – and Carina, but she doesn’t quite understand – the next day, and Teddy’s happy enough to get another sibling, and he’s even happier that Harry will be staying home with them, jumping excitedly and immediately telling Harry about how many times they’ll be able to watch Tangled together with all the new time Harry’s going to have available for him.

Draco bursts out laughing at Harry’s face and kisses his hair when he stands.

“Your turn,” he says sweetly.

“I’ll get you back for this, Potter,” Harry tells him, scowling, but he really couldn’t be happier.

Teddy grins as he goes to grab the movie.

*

Ginny makes a face at their announcement, but the rest of the Weasleys seem excited for them; Draco grins and tells Ginny she’ll have to babysit this one, too, and that maybe she can turn them into a Quidditch prodigy. 

Ginny’s entire face lights up at the idea.

*

They get their baby six months after Carina’s first birthday; Harry’s hands are shaking in the hospital, even though he’s been here before. Draco’s pacing up and down the hallway anxiously, thinking about how, though he walks these halls every day and faces much scarier things at work, having a baby unsteadies him much more. 

When they give their baby to them – and it’s another boy, just like Teddy asked, even though they didn’t know at the time they chose to adopt him – the St. Mungo’s nurse smiles and tells them she knows they’ll take care of him.

Harry knows they will; they’ll love him forever.

“James?” he asks Draco, in a fragile voice. Holding his child for the first time is unlike any other experience in the world, nothing makes his heart pound like this, very nerve in his body alive.

“James.” Draco nods.

Harry kisses him, again and again, until they’re both crying and laughing and somehow the happiest they’ve been and it doesn’t stop, it only gets better from then, every day with their children and the Weasleys and their friends, all of it a miracle after everything they’ve been through.

Harry cannot believe this is his life.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading :D You can find me on tumblr @mfingenius  
> This was commissioned by the AO3 user @candidus who was a pleasure to work with:D


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